Friday
Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Editorial Editors: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas
Newsroom: (541)346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
May 12,2000
Volume 101, Issue 151
Emerald
night
should
have been
taken back
long ago
Did you see the rape facts on
the front page of Tuesday’s
paper?
“One out of four college women
will be sexually assaulted before grad
uation. ”
“Rape is one of the few offenses
where the victim is nearly always
blamed for it happening.”
Did they shock you?
Perhaps. But many of us have
heard them before. As jarring as these
facts are, we often take the fact of rape
for granted. It will always be a part of
society, we think, so what can we do
to change that?
The events in Sexual Assault
Awareness this month include the
showing of “Boys Don’t Cry” on
Thursday and the 22nd annual “Take
Back the Night” on May 18. While
these are obviously worthwhile activ
ities, there is one question: After years
of having these statistics in our face,
of exposing the victims of sexual as
sault, of trying to take back the night,
why is rape still so prevalent in our
society?
The answer isn’t an easy one. For
one thing, even critics are torn over
whether rape is an issue of biology,
power or sex. What can’t be argued,
however, is the sheer magnitude of
cases. Sexual assault was the most
rapidly growing violent crime in the
United States in 1995, according to
the American Medical Association.
But if anti-rape messages have been
out in society since the women’s
movement in the 1970s and have edu
cated a full generation of men and
women, then why haven’t the num
ber of rape cases subsided?
It seems awkwardly funny that the
Worker Rights Consortium — that
deals with the fate of people in other
countries — attracts more passion on
this campus than rape, which deals
with the plight of women in our own
country. It’s not that the WRC issue is- -
n’t worthy, but why doesn’t the con
tinual degradation of women in our
culture get as much or more atten
tion?
almost
as if peo
ple
heard the statistics so
often that the campaign against
sexual assault isn’t new and powerful
any more. But if commercial advertis
ers know how to concentrate our at
tention onto such trivial acts as buy
ing this soda or that one, why
couldn’t a slick anti-rape campaign
renew debate in one of our most sig
nificant social problems?
In a very basic way, the issue of
rape needs a better public relations
campaign. It needs some spark, some
event, some rally that will refocus our
nation and our campus’s attention
onto it. The events we currently sup
port, such as “Take Back the Night,”
are clearly
necessary
and benefi
cial. However,
we need some
thing even bigger
to get more people’s
attention.
Whether you ap
proved, the shock value of
Justice For All’s Genocide
Awareness Project got people
talking passionately about abor
tion. The “I Agree with Ryan” cam
paign sparked debate on Christianity
and religious identity. The WRC
protests clearly grabbed and focused
everyone’s attention on sweatshop la
bor. Sexual assault prevention needs,
requires and deserves the same atten
tion.
One out of every four women on a
college campus will be sexually as
saulted. If that doesn’t shock you,
what will?
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board. Responses may be
sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Letters to the editor
Don’t forget Symantec
This is in reference to Ben Ro
mano’s Article “E-mail Virus’ global
ruin delivers all but Love” (ODE, May
5). It had a side bar with some quick
information on the viruses and in
cluded the closing statement “Where
to get help if you have contracted the
Love Bug: www.mcafee.com.” I have
to consider this irresponsible journal
ism on a couple of counts.
First off, this is plain favoritism.
There are a number of virus software
packages on the market, and the
Emerald seems to be promoting one
above the rest — but that belongs on
the editorial page and not on the front
page.
Second, students can receive the
Duck Web CD, which includes Norton
AntiVirus as part of the University’s
site license. If they have Norton in
stalled, then they just have to go to
www.SARC.com to down load the
virus protection for the love bug that
Symantec had posted within hours of
the first incident of the virus. Going to
Mcafee.com is only useful if you have
their software program installed al-.
ready. The article may lead students
to think that the Norton Antivirus is
useless for the Love Bug and that they
need to go out and purchase Mcafee
instead.
And thirdly, Symantec is a major
local employer in Eugene and has
contributed a lot to the University —
surely the Emerald could include its
name among the options for those
with a virus on their system.
John McClure
visual design
Please forgive us
The University Day Committee
would like to apologize for our adver
tisement that ran in the Emerald on
May 9. We realize the advertisement
was in poor taste, and we apologize
for our unintentional insensitivity. We
hope this incident will not deter any
of you in supporting and volunteering
at our 2000 University Day.
Katy Ho
Greg Danielson
University Day co-chairs
Bettman works for us all
I’d like to encourage people to vote
for Bonny Bettman this week. I’m the
owner of a small business located in
downtown Eugene, and I think she’ll
do a great job at helping the City
Council find a way to bring life back
to the core of our city. It’s about time
that we finally have a chance to vote
for someone who includes all the citi
zens in her thoughts and ideas, rather
than just doing the grunt work for the
local rich and powerful.
How do I know she plans to work
for all of us? The fact that she has al
ready spent more than 10 years work
ing on various city committees and
commissions was my first clue. If
you’ve ever spent time on one of these
committees, you know it’s not much
fun. Bettman didn’t spend those
hours to make herself rich or because
it was exciting. She did it to help out.
She did it without expecting any
Thumbs
To being
out there
Cartoonist John
Callahan enter
tained about 300
students and com
munity members
in the EMU Ball
room on Tuesday
with his fresh
brand of politically
incorrect humor. A
quadriplegic,
Callahan was spon
sored by the Uni
versity’s Disability
Project Commit
tee.
To bringing
awareness
MAPP, the Multi
cultural AIDS/HIV
Peer Program,
brought a lively
group of skits to
the EMU Am
phitheater May 7.
which presented
health informa
tion to prevent the
spread of sexually
transmitted dis
eases.
To a flaming
disaster
A "controlled”
brush fire set by
the U.S. National
Parte Service in
New Mexico on
May 4 quickly
spreadintoawild
fire that threat
ened theLosAlam
os National
Laboratory. A New
Mexico senator is
already investigat
ing who author*
ized the blaze.
To letting people
decide for you
According to The
Oregonian, ballots
for the state’s pri
mary elections re
flect only an 18
percent voter
turnout as of May
10. One county of
ficial called his dis
trict’s lack of par
ticipation
"dismal.”